Anti Social Disorder Essay, Research Paper
Anti-Social Personality Disorder
In a world full of fears, perhaps the worst one a human being
should have is that to be afraid of his fellow man. The human that
should be most feared is the one that has Anti-Social Personality
Disorder or in laymen’s terms the psychopath. The psychopath is
probably the most deviant mind that exists and treatment is not very
successful because there is not a cure or drug to control it. The
solution in my mind to control the problem of sociopaths is to let
them live in colonies with each other. Through my research I will
develop an understanding of this personality disorder and convince you
the reader that my solution might be a viable solution.
The sociopath is a combination of other mental illnesses that
are incurred in childhood as a result of heredity, trauma and the
lack of emotional development. The lack of moral or emotional
development which gives a sociopath a lack of understanding for other
people’s feelings which enables them to be deceitful without feeling
bad about whatever they do. The under developed emotional system as
explained in the video “The World of Personality Disorders volume 5″
says the sociopath is “emotionally retarded” . The sociopathic
behavior problems that start as a child have links to heredity, a
family with a pre-disposition to perform crimes, alcoholic parents
that do crimes, irresponsible behavior that persists and parents that
do not discipline. The child that will eventually be a sociopath
exhibits certain feeling inside that they are inadequate, shamed and
because of that they are teased and made fun of. The child
characteristics of a future sociopath consist of being incapable of
following the rules. The youngster will skip school, bully, steal,
torment animals, run away from home and the child is likely to develop
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or AD|HD. At an earlier age
than their peer group the child will smoke drink, do drugs, and become
sexually active. The diagnoses of Anti-Social Personality Disorder is
not used for people under the age of 18.
The Psychopath is defined in the dictionary as a person
suffering from, especially a severe mental disorder with aggressive
antisocial behavior which is a nice way of saying a really bad and
mean person. There are many characteristics of a sociopath and each
sociopath has their own special traits.
A sociopath gets great gratification in the act of hurting
someone for absolutely no reason. The behavior of a sociopath is so
close to normal it is extremely hard to diagnose. A sociopath is a
person that acts against society and their sole purpose it seems is to
act against the laws of the given land their end. The sociopath will
in most cases become violent and abuse drugs and alcohol to facilitate
the violent behavior. The violence in many cases is the result of
sub-concious decisions that might lead to murdering or assaulting
someone for no reason. When a sociopath is attacking someone they will
inflict more pain if the victim fights back.
The lack of moral development lets the person feel no guilt or
pain for what they did and quite possibly feel great about their
actions. A sociopath has little self regard for themselves and pays
little attention to their own personal safety when picking fights.
Quite often they will be outsized and get hurt. Some sociopaths are
non-violent and stay out of prison by doing small crimes like
swindling and insurance fraud. It is possible that a sociopath will
come from a normal home but their are more that do not. A sociopath
has the opposite morals of society and by doing things like beating up
people that are stronger than them they feel like they did something
positive. A psychopath is very reactive and will blow their cool
because of little things and no doubt assault the person they are
reacting to. There is a possibility that saratonin a chemical that is
linked to behavior has something to do with the disorder but is not
the major cause. The type 2 male sociopath drinks heavily no matter
what, has a history of frequent fights and arrests, they are impulsive
risk takers, curious, excitable, quick tempered, optimistic and
independent.
Characteristic List
* be glib or superficial
* have a grandiose self image
* be deceitful or manipulative
* lack of remorse
* lack of empathy
* be impulsive
* be irresponsible
* be easily angered or frustrated
* have serious problems as a child or teenager
* shows callous unconcern from other’s feelings
* disregard social norms or the rights of other people
* be unable to maintain enduring relationships
* be incapable of experiencing guilt
* blame others or rationalize antisocial behavior
* be constantly irritable
The antisocial tends to have short lasting relationships if
they are capable of having a relationship. The psychopath is incapable
of having long lasting, close, warm and responsible relationships with
people. The adult will habitually lie and cannot hold a job for long.
The sociopath can seem charming in superficial social interactions but
repeatedly hurt, anger, exploit, cheat, rob, harass or injure them.
The actions a psychopath no matter what laws they break, whoever they
hurt, whatever trouble they have to deal with they do not feel bad.
When a sociopath is punished they have no feeling of regret because no
matter how cruel or selfish the behavior is they feel it is justified.
People like us give the sociopath little sympathy because they hurt
people so bad but their illness is recognized as somewhat of an
explanation of why they do it. The idea of the disorder is no excuse
for their behavior that results from it.
The sociopath is very intelligent and knows how to manipulate
people into thinking they are normal and that is when they work their
magic. Beneath the mask of sanity a sociopath is full of tension,
hostility, irritability, rage, emptiness and sadness at the core of
the sociopathic personality. When they hurt a person a sociopath might
think he had it coming or I’m watching out for number 1. Those
sociopaths with children neglect them and do not keep them safe. As a
spouse the sociopath can be glib, superficial, manipulative,
dishonest, abusive and unfaithful. The sociopath tends to borrow,
squander and not repay the money they owe. Many sociopaths never
settle down for any period of time, they will travel without aim
looking for jobs or whatever they need and get it by doing anything. A
sociopath may look tough and resilient but is very fragile and can
erupt very easily.
The diagnoses of a sociopath or psychopath is very difficult
and has to meet several criteria in order to get that diagnoses.
Diagnoses as explained in Caring for the Mind is based on ” a
pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of
others, occurring since the age of fifteen, as indicated by at least
three of the following,
1. failure to conform to the social norms for lawful behavior, as
indicated by repeatedly performing illegal acts that are grounds for
arrest;
2. deceitfulness, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or
conning others for personal profit or pleasure;
3. impulsivity failure to plan ahead;
4. irritability and aggressive, as indicated by repeated physical
fights or assaults;
5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others;
6. consistent irresponsibility as indicated by failure to keep a job
or honor financial obligations;
7. lack of remorse, as indicated by indifference or rationalizations
for having hurt , mistreated or stolen from others;
* must be older than 18 to be diagnosed with it
* must be evidence of a conduct disorder before the age of 15
* antisocial behavior doesn’t occur only during the course of
schizophrenia or manic episodes of bipolar illness
Anti-Social Personality Disorder is found in as much as 75%
the prison population. Alcohol is a contributing cause or consequence
of being antisocial. People that are both antisocial and alcoholic are
prone to violent behavior. Not every antisocial becomes a criminal. An
antisocial person’s disorder peaks between the ages of 24 and 44 and
drops off sharply after that.
After the age of 30 the sociopath fights less and performs
less crime but the illness can persist into the ages of between 60 and
70 but after 30 are less likely to be in trouble with the law. In a
sociopaths in their thirties will continue to have problems such as
unstable relationships, substance abuse, impulsiveness, poor temper
control and failure to honor financial obligations. In our population
3% men have Anti-Social Personality Disorder and 1% women in the
overall population have it. The ratio of men to women is 4 to 1.
Identical twins are several times more likely to have a personality
disorder compared to fraternal twins. A genetic link strongest in
anti-social disorder has a pattern of irresponsible behavior 5 times
more common amongst close relatives of anti-social men than in the
general population. Some people with a genetic link to alcoholism have
a genetic link to anti-social personality disorder too. Male relatives
of people with Somatization Disorder have a higher incidence of
anti-social personality disorder ( somatization – begins in the teens
to twenties and consists of chronic physical problems and complaints).
Sociopaths with a history of substance abuse and criminal behavior fit
Manchausen Syndrome (Manchausen is the extreme type of factitious
disorder which symptoms are lying, falsification and pathological
lying). Sociopaths also have a tendency to have a non-psychiatric
condition that is called malingering which is the production of
grossly exaggerated symptoms for a specific illness or problem for the
purpose of winning legal action or things like committing insurance
fraud or basically anything they have to lie to get. The sociopath is
a bundle of problems that could come from any part of life and they
are very hard to handle.
If a person is diagnosed with Anti-Social Personality Disorder
is very hard to treat and there is no cure for their behavior. Because
the disorder remits in the thirties, it tends to be less obvious.
Those that are forced into psychotherapy cannot tolerate the intimacy
of the required therapy.The therapist has to focus on enhancing
strength, channel the sensation of seeking actions on people into more
positive socially responsible behaviors and to teach practical ways in
dealing with every day frustration. Medications are not recommended in
the treatment of sociopath but drugs can diminish the violent
episodes. People with Anti-Social Personality Disorder also have
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and stimulants are used to
treat that such as Ritalin. There are no long term results to study of
this approach of using stimulants but they should not be prescribed
unless the person is specifically diagnosed with ADHD and has not
responded to other medication. The use of drugs cannot be abused and
should be closely monitored. Those that are convicted of crimes are
usually incarcerated. Some sociopaths may be able to instead of a jail
term choose a residential facility that has counseling but there is a
high drop out rate in those facilities. Another alternative to jail
for the adolescents with delinquent behavior and are in trouble with
the law are wilderness programs that are designed to be like Outward
Bound.The camps much like that in the T.V. show Neon Rider provide
difficult and dangerous challenges that would keep their minds busy.
The success of the wilderness camps is not quite clear. There is a
disorder called Borderline that is often misdiagnosed as Anti-Social
Personality Disorder which is quite similar to it. Borderline Disorder
is a little bit more aggressive than Antisocial.
Characteristics of Borderline Disorder
Violating the rights of others and age appropriate societal
norms or rules with at least three of the following in the past 6
months and one in the last 12 Aggression to People and Animals;
1. often bullying, threatening, or intimidating others;
2. often iniating fights;
3. use of a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (bat
, brick, broken bottle, gun, knife);
4. physical cruelty to people and animals;
5. stealing in a confrontation with victim ( mugging, purse snatching,
extortion, armed robbery);
6. forcing someone into sexual activity;
7. Destruction of Property – deliberate fire setting with intention to
cause serious damage;
8. deliberate destruction of other’s property in other ways;
9. Deceitfulness or Theft-breaking into someone’s house, car,
building;
10. frequent lying to get goods, favors and avoid obligations;
11. stealing items of non-trivial value without confronting the
victim, forgery, shoplifting;
12. Serious Violation of the Rules- often staying out all night
dispite parental rules that begin before the age of 13;
13. running away from home at least twice (once not returning for a
lengthy period);
14. frequent truancy from school, significant impairment in
functioning socially at school or work in individuals 18 or older but
symptoms don’t meet criteria for Anti – Social Disorder.
The diagnoses of a sociopath is extremely difficult because
they have so many mental problems to contend with the complete
diagnoses might not occur. The possibility of being diagnosed with
something similar to being a sociopath is quite great and this point
should be stressed with relationship between Borderline and
Anti-Social Disorder.
The inability to diagnose and treat properly leads me to
believe that there is not a clear solution as to how the general
population should react and treat these severely troubled people. This
is a disorder that blinds the emotions and actions the sociopath which
in no way is their fault for having it. Although the disorder is not
the given sociopath’s fault there is no real place for a sociopath in
our society. Because sociopaths hurt us, I believe that once diagnosed
with the disorder that all sociopaths should be sent to some kind of
controlled colony that would run like a normal city or town except all
it’s residents would be sociopaths. I come to this solution as almost
a way to remove them from society and treat the people in a way to. By
having sociopaths colonized together with all the parts of a normal
society it would be good for them because the only people the could
hurt or manipulate would be their fellow sociopath. The sociopath
would be constantly bored with average person and sometimes causing
them to hurt the average person when if they were caused to interact
with fellow sociopaths it would keep them interested because it is not
as easy to manipulate or con. The possibility of violence in my colony
is great but the sociopaths would not mind because it is in their
personality and it would serve us better if they killed or hurt each
other rather than us. In closing the sociopath is so hard to deal with
we should make strides to control their behavior in public.
—
Bibliography
BOOKS
Wing, John Kenneth, Reasoning About Madness, Oxford Press, Oxford 1978
Milt, Harry ,Basic Handbook on Mental Ilness,Scribner, New York, 1974
Hales, Dianne, Caring for the Mind, Bantam Books, New York, 1995
ARTICLES
Salama M.D., Aziz A., The Antisocial Personality, The Psychiatric
Journal of the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, 1988
Malaney M. D. , Kathleen R., Patients with Antisocial Personality
Disorder, Post Graduate Medicine, 1992
Unknown, unknown, Psychopathic Patients Pose Dilemma For Physicians
and Society, CMAJ, 1995
Hare Ph.D., Robert,Predators, Psycology Today, Feb. 1994
Hill, Heather,Monsters In Our Midst,Homemaker’s Magazine, Oct. 1995
VIDEO
The World of Abnormal Psychology Personality Disorder